<p align="left">
<a href="../images/artifacts/articles/fuzz.jpg" rel="lytebox[algae]" title="Fuzz Algae">
	<img class="zoomable" src='../images/artifacts/articles/fuzz.jpg' align='right' height='150px' border="0">
</a>
One more article on algae? Haven't we spoken enough about it already in all these forums? Yes, we have, but this is not about the different 
varieties of algae, what causes them to thrive and how to keep them at bay. There is enough material and argument on those so this is not to repeat or contend 
all that has already been said and proved (or disproved). In this article I want to share some of the habits I practice to keep the nuisance away as much as possible.</p>
<p align="left">Like all problems, algae issues in aquariums also have two types of control.
<ul>
	<li>Preventive</li>
	<li>Cure</li>
</ul></p>
<p align="left">I'll talk a little bit about both in the forms I practice and a lot of these are not much different than what is required for a long term tank maintenance. My objective is to 
consider these measures necessary not only for a healthy aquarium (in the traditional sense) but also as measures to minimize algae breakouts (which is not necessarily "unhealthy" albeit unsightly). 
Do note that although most of these are applicable to all types of aquarium ecosystems, I am writing this from my experience with freshwater planted aquariums only.</p>
<p align="left">Like titbits? Well here is one before I get to the core. The common blue green algae (BGA or cyanobacteria) is considered a bacteria not a plant. Why? Well, all living organims are 
classified into 2 broad catagories
<ul>
	<li>The Eukaryotes or organisms with a nucleus in their cells</li>
	<li>The Prokaryotes or organisms without a nucleus in their cells</li>
</ul></p>
<p align="left">
<a href="../images/artifacts/articles/bga.jpg" rel="lytebox[algae]" title="Blue Green Algae in over crowded low circulation area">
	<img class="zoomable" src='../images/artifacts/articles/bga.jpg' align='left' width='150px' border="0">
</a>
Eukaryotes make up all Animals, Plants, Fungi and Protoctista. All nucleated algae fall under Protocista. Earlier cyanobacteria was also considered under this group because they have cloroplast 
in their cells to photosynthesize. However more recent discoveries unveiled the lack of nucleus in their cells resulting in their reclassification to Prokaryotes, the group that includes all bacteria.
</p>
<p align="left">Back to the topic now. First I will talk about preventive measures. It is well established now that most algae breakouts happen and persist if there is a imbalance in the light, CO<sub>2</sub> and nutrient 
concentrations for a given aquarium. All aquariums are unique from the composition of biomass and type, water parameters, light sources and duration, age etc. So this balance needs to be established (and changed over time as needed) 
by trials and adjustments following guidelines established by experienced professionals and hobbyists in this field. Along with that one also needs to ensure that waste build in a closed eco system is reduced periodically and flow of nutrients is 
maintained uniformly across the aquarium.</p>
<p align="left">Plants and algae compete for the same resources to thrive. Essentially consider all the nutrients (including CO<sub>2</sub>) as raw food and light as the cooking energy. Both plants and algae have advantages and disadvanges over each other in utilizing 
these resources to make their food. If the balance is tipped towards one, that segment thrives. Sometimes both do, sometimes none. As aquarists, we always look towards tipping the balance towards plants...rather tipping it away from the algae.</p>
<p align="left">Plants are more complex organisms than algae. I know this is an arguable point, but it is simply from the point of how much complexity is involved in "eating", living and reproducing (the basics of life) for a plant vs. an algae. As such 
plants have a general disadvantage over algae in the amount and proportion of resources needed by them to thrive. For example once established, some algae will thrive with the basic amount of dissolved CO<sub>2</sub> in the water or the organic carbon produced 
in the ecosystem. A vascular plant might not do so well if it does not have a sufficient supply of carbon. On the other hand, plants have evolved to utilize a larger bandwidth of the visible light spectrum while certain algae can photosynthesize more efficiently at specific spectrums.</p>

<p align="left">
<strong>Preventive Measures</strong><br>
What I discussed above are some of the key points I learned that can be maintained to tip the conditions in favor of plants vs. algae. How can I maintain the continuity of these conditions to give a better chance to my plants and hopefully not as much to the algae?
<ul>
	<li><strong>Moderation from the start up</strong>. In order to boost my plant growth and color, I often used to follow the "maximum growth" conditions. That means photo period of 10+ hours and plenty of nutrients right from the get so. These actually produce promising results 
	in the short term, but very soon I realized that they hurt me more than helped and I could have been more successful with less. That means less photo period and minimal nutrients to start with and gradually adjusting them based on my tank performance. The lights need to be the right spectrum 
	(6700K - 10000K) and intensity<sup><a href="#c1">1</a></sup> but the photo period does not need to be that long either. I have 3 tanks full over around 40 different plants growing healthy and happy with a 5 hour photo period only and have no intentions to change that. Point is start with a short 
	timeframe and increase in smaller increments as you need. Most plants are photosynthetically active for only a fews hours of the photo period so they will do ok, but this limits the amount of light energy being "injected" in the tank, that will be available to algae as well. Nutrient moderation 
	might be argued with the fact that they will have detrimental effects on plants too. I will be writing an article on it shortly explaining my point. For this article, all I want to say is that moderation does not mean limitation. However they are the same essential "food" the algae also thrive on. 
	If you have lots of food for your guests, they will have their fill, but then a lot is possibly available for unwanted guests, unless you clean up and throw them away. Instead, get just enough out of the fridge that you think will suffice. If it falls short, replenish a bit more and so forth. Very soon
	 you will have an idea how much your guests are happy with and do not have to serve excess to avoid shortage.
	<a href="../images/artifacts/articles/gda.jpg" rel="lytebox[algae]" title="Green dust algae covered well lit front panel">
		<img class="zoomable" src='../images/artifacts/articles/gda.jpg' align='right' width='150px' border="0">
	</a>
	</li>
	<li><strong>Consistent and even dispersion of resources</strong>. Let's say we figured the optimum nutrient regime, CO<sub>2</sub> dosing and light for a tank. All good? Not necessarily. Algae spores are available in the aquarium at all times and they need just the right conditions in a small area to get their 
	foot hold. Once there, they will flourish relatively easily. Almost all algae breakouts start in certain areas of the tank which either is getting more light than other areas or less flow of water or both. At least so has been my observations. Infact now-a-days I sometimes welcome the initial signs of algae to 
	figure out what of these are not consistent in my tanks and where. Sometimes GDA (Green Dust Algae) will first show up on the front glass panel only. If I wipe them out they re-settle and again they grow faster on the front glass than on any other side. This indicates my lights are not covering the tank evenly 
	and sometimes all it means is that I need to move the fixture a bit or adjust the angle (if hanging). Water flow is also very important. It is the primary medium for nutrient, carbon dioxide and oxygen circulation around the tank and for gas exchange at the surface. Uneven or insufficient flow can have many effects. 
	Plants will not grow in certain areas of the tank as fast or healthy as other areas, fish might not get enough oxygen and aerobic bacteria that decompose larger wastes might not be able to function all around the tank. In addition, algae can get a foot hold in both areas that are lacking in flow or are getting 
	excess. There are 3 basic steps I take to adjust flow in my tanks. 1. Keep the filter outflow just under the surface of water such that there is no turbulance but sufficient surface agitation to facilitate gas exchange. 2. Prune plants at least once a week. This not only helps to keep a consistent layout that I am 
	looking for but also reduces over crowding in heavily planted areas thereby reducing water flow in those sections. 3. For larger tanks, instead of having one filter outflow that has capacity to move the recommended volume of water for that tank capacity, I keep 2 filter outlets on opposite side with half the capacity. I
	 also place the inlet of one side directly opposite to the outlet of the other side. This streamlines the flow much better in my opinion and makes it more even throughout the tank, instead of having too fast flow in part of the tank, smooth flow else where and possibly low to no flow else where.</li>
	<li>
	<a href="../images/artifacts/articles/scum.jpg" rel="lytebox[algae]" title="Surface scum due to low circulation">
		<img class="zoomable" src='../images/artifacts/articles/scum.jpg' align='right' width='150px' border="0">
	</a>
	<strong>Don't let waste sit around too long</strong>. Irrespective of how much plant are there, how well they are growing, how well the beneficial bacteria has colonized and so forth, waste will build up. And they will break down eventually to produce some of the resources both plants and alage needs. Many might 
	agrue that wastes in planted aquaria are not required to be removed as much as in unplanted tanks. Logically right but think about this. In natural ecosystems, the constituent parties (flora, fauna, weather etc.) eventually determine and evolve based on their surroundings. But in a closed and managed ecosystem, 
	we are not allowing it to evolve on its own. We control it pretty regularly by adding different species of flora and fauna to thrive together, measuring the amounts of resources that go in it and much more. In the same line, we also need to control the amount of debri that builds in it. If left untouched for long, it will 
	be utilized by someboby and I cannot be sure it is utilized by who I would like to. For me the simpler solution is to clean it off rather. In the same context, I also open and clean the filter pipes once every 3 months or so to remove the debri build up in the pipes.</li>
</ul>
I can think of some more smaller maintenance aspects that have a direct impact on how much upper hand algae can get in a tank. However, these 3 are probably the most important since they affect the inflow, outflow and dispersion of the essential ingredients algae need to survive.
</p>
<p align="left">
<strong>Cures</strong><br>
Even by employing the best and diligant efforts to keep a tank in tip top shape, let's face it...algae will happen. And sometimes they will overpower. There are so many cures known in this hobby, I cannot really think of anything different that worked for me. However with the exception of GDA and BGA, there is a preset 
methodology I employ to combat algae breakouts in my tanks.
<ol>
	<li><strong>Determine the cause</strong>. As mentioned earlier, most alage breakouts are a result of imbalance in the "raw food"(carbon and other nutrients) and "cooking energy" (light) relative to a tank composition. As long as the imbalance is not addressed any other measures, however much radical, will not provide long term success. 
	Determining the cause should be the first measure, before taking any action to combat the algae. Once the symptoms are gone (for short), it will be more difficult to detect the root causes. Detection actions can range from anything as simple as reading over the internet to find out common causes of specific types of algae, to 
	measuring tank water parameters to employing a PAR meter to detect precise light intensities. One way to determine the causes is to study the plant growth in your tank, especially around the areas heavily infested with algae. Often times they will provide you good enough clues that you can validate against other information sources. 
	For example, if plants are showing a certain nutrient deficiency symptom, that might be the cause why they are not able to use other nutrients in the tank and triggering a algae breakout instead. If stem plants not growing vertically, that might be an indication towards too much light. There are so many examples. When algae breakout happens 
	it is better not to be in a hurry to get rid of them ASAP. Rather take your time in studing and understanding the causes and them employ the corrective measures.</li>
	<li><strong>Address the cause first</strong>. Once the root causes are understood, remediate them before taking any other measures. This will only help to minimizes the chances of a recurrance after the current breakout is controlled. So, readjust the nutrient and CO<sub>2</sub> dosage, photo period, bulbs etc. that are necessary for the specific case.</li>
	<li><strong>Get a head-start. Cut the life line(s)</strong>. At this point one should be at a much better position for a long term success. This is the time to give your tank a short term boost over the algae. Almost all measures commonly used for this purpose are targeted towards cutting the life line of the algae, but since they by and 
	large depend on the same resources as the plants, you will probably not be able to impact the algae without impacting the plants. However to minimize the impact on the plants there are some more sub steps I take at this point.
		<ol>
			<li>Manual Removal. If possible, remove as much of the algae manually. Twist them with toothbrush, cut heavily infested and dying leaves, water change...</li>
			<li>Although I never employ blackouts, I like the concept of cutting the energy source to "cook". Since higher vascular plants have "cooked food" reserves in their bodies, they can hold on relatively longer than algae in such conditions. However, I don't like to be "left out in the dark" so I do something different. What I understand is that 
			specific algae are more photosynthetically active under certain spectrums<a href="#c2"><sup>2</sup></a>. Much of these spectrums are same as that plants need as well, however plants are relatively more active across a larger wavelength range. So if a particular type of algae is thriving in a tank, it just might be getting the preferred wavelengths at sufficient 
			quantities. It's hard to tell, but lets assume its true. No 2 light bulbs are equal in the amount of specific wavelengths they produce. Even 2 6500K T5 tubes from the same manufacturer will have slight difference in the amount of specific wavelengths they produce. The idea here is to replace the existing bulbs with new ones of same specifications to slow 
			down the algae. Arguably it might not work as intended, but I always try this before I take much drastic measures. It really does not harm either and I don't go out and buy a new bulb everytime. I simply switch the bulbs with another fixture or with a spare bulb that I keep handy. Usually I will give it a week for the bulbs to take their effect on algae (if any).
			This is much better than going blackout in my opinion. At most I will reduce the photo period somewhat, but usually I do not like to get short term success by changing tank parameters (including light) that I will need to change back for long term. All those I like to keep unchanged while I take additional steps to get short term success.</li>
			<li>
			<a href="../images/artifacts/articles/thread.jpg" rel="lytebox[algae]" title="Thread algae treated with hydrogen peroxide">
				<img class="zoomable" src='../images/artifacts/articles/thread.jpg' align='right' height='80px' border="0">
			</a>
			After about a week, I will spot treat with hydrogen peroxide (H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>). For this I remove all fish and shrimp from the tank, switch off all filters, spot treat (standard 3% solutions) and let it sit for 1 hour. After an hour, I let the filters run for about 1 more hour before I clean up the filters and give the tank a final 
			scrub and do a 90-95% water change. I let the filters run for another 1/2 hour or so before the re-introduce the fuana back into the tank. All this time is just to allow all the peroxide to break down and not accidentally over oxidize the fish and shrimp tissue.</li>
		</ol>
	</li>
	<li><strong>Boost the life line (of plants)</strong>. Obviously the plants have taken a hit from the previous steps. To boost them back, I usually dose the recommended dosage of ADA Green Gain for 3 subsequent days.</li>
</ol>
This regime had been so successful with me that when I mentally organized these steps from previous operations, I induced alage breakouts in 3 of my tanks by excessively photo period and low CO<sub>2</sub> concentration just to repeat them and see the effects. It worked everytime although I cannot measure the success ratio of any individual step on its own. Took me anywhere 
around 2-3 weeks to combat breakouts in medium to large and stem heavy to moss only tanks. All that without the loss of any species of plants. The only loss I had was with fish and that's why I started removing them from the tanks before doing the hydrogen peroxide treatment step. 
</p>
<p align="left">As you can see, although algae is something we have to live with in this hobby, it does not take rocket science to control them. All it takes is a little bit of diligance and putting a perspective towards the everyday tank maintenance chores. Hopefully you find this article helpful and I would like to hear back your feedback on it.
</p>
<p align="left"><span style="font-size: 0.7em">
<u>Credits</u><br>
[<a name="c1">1</a>]<a href="http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/105774-par-vs-distance-t5-t12-pc.html" target="new">PAR vs Distance</a> by Hoppy at <strong>The Planted Tank</strong><br>
[<a name="c2">2</a>]<a href="http://en.phyco.org/wiki/Algal_Light_Requirements" target="new">Algal Light Requirements</a> at <strong>phyco.org</strong><br>
<a href="http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/algae/algcont.shtml" target="new">Controlling Algae</a> at <strong>The Skeptical Aquarist</strong>
</span></p>
